Pulled an all-nighter with friends at UNSW in order to learn some calculus so I might pass my exam. Drove to a Maccas this morning to buy some breakky and ended up trying to order at a garbage bin. Not my finest moment.

Edit: 'my', not 'mu'.

Also, since I figured this may also be of interest to you guys (and girls), whilst I was driving back towards home at around sunrise, I felt the need to grab a coffee and sit down to watch it. So I drove down the road and sat down, enjoying the view, only to get blinded by the sun in my rear view mirror as I drove back home :(

You can now drink milk out of the bottle, no more needing to be cleaning house every week, can wear the same pair of jeans multiple times, less bills for deodorant/cologne, you can be free to go out with friends whenever they ask, and you can become whoever you want.

When my boyfriend and I broke up years ago, I was lost. I had no idea who I was and it was gutting.

I rediscovered myself, cut my hair and dyed it, got a whole new wardrobe of clothes, joined a new soccer team, moved house, bought more cds, and basically just got out of my funk (this all took me about 3-4 months). But getting happier and not thinking about him every day took about 6 months.

Things take time, but you can help it by getting out of the house and doing new things. It would have taken far longer to get out of my funk if I'd not done all the clothes shopping and makeover and new sports tean etc. Just get out of the house.

Also, get the game for your phone (androids only) "ingress". It gets you out of the house, you meet heaps of cool people if you want to and you discover lots of cool places in your area (or globally if you travel!)

Due to life, I (as an example) have a 4 bedroom house compacted into a 2 bedroom apartment. To box it up last time took a little over a week straight doing it from around 8-8 each day and weekend when I last did it (that's with 2 people doing it).

Also something no a lot of people know (and as I found out the hard way) the vast majority of companies will not insure any of your good if you packed them.

I got stung badly when I moved from tassie to here, and recently when I nearly was returning to tassie I checked into it.

For me to move, it would cost closer to $2.5k, which is more than 2 weeks wage for me...

1 - New Zealand. I was planning a cheap approach by flying in and out from different places them relying on getting the relocation car rental deals and driving it. Saves a bit of money, requires a bit of luck and I think it'd be something good to say I managed

2 - South Korea. A friend is moving there for work today, so I could visit her. Flights are twice that of NZ. And she isn't in the capital. But I could wander about, and visit her along the way.

3 - Bali/Fiji. But not for parties. Bali has some culture, right? There must be. Fiji is on the same option point because again, there must be something? I wanted to do a kayaking holdiay there but the organised groups only start in May.

I'm a woman, and I'll be travelling alone. So any other reasonable ideas are welcome. But I'm trying to save for a bigger drive across America in a year or so, so nothing overlly expensive is really an option.

Yeah, Vanuatu was a consideration. I also kind of like the fact no-one back in the UK has really heard of it. So it's something a bit different.

I did 9 days in Queenstown/Wanaka/Doubtful Sound/Franz Josef last year, so I do feel a bit like I'd be going over trodden tracks already... Did that all on my own. I do think travelling alone has so many upsides, but as a woman it's always unfortunately a requirement to think about local customs etc. For example, I'm never really going to be able to go Morocco or India alone. Which is sad.

I just got back from Koh Chang in Thailand- before you hate the idea, look it up, it's not like the hugely populated ones
It's a pretty under developed island, bit of a trek to get to but so disconnected from the mainland. A fair few travellers there but no hordes of backpackers. It's also a quick jump down to Vietnam if that interests you
Also, so cheap I felt guilty every time I paid for something

My suggestion on trying to get cheaper flights: set up a price watch on Adioso.
They let you specify an entire country as a destination. eg: Sydney to South Korea in April for 2 weeks. (Yeah, so looks like Incheon really is the cheapest there... ).
For, say New Zealand... more options.

The prices vary from day to day too, I've got a watch set up for Europe in February, and another to Norway in June and I've seen pretty large drops - over $1000 from when I initially set it up back in August.

If you get a referral from your GP Medicare will cover 5 sessions. Additional sessions usually run between $75-$200. Hope you get the help you're after, and there are other services that can help you out, such as Lifeline and Beyond Blue. Even if you're not in a suicidal crisis or overwhelmed with depression, they can point you to services specific to the problems you're having.

Medicare should cover 6 initially, but you'll need a referral from a GP. Then at the end of the 6, you can ask for 4 more (totalling 10) for the YEAR.
So BEST thing to do right now is start seeing one... and then you'll finish up your 10 for 2013, and then have another 10 in 2014... so in a way, you'll get 20 consecutive sessions!

Even though medicare will cover a number of sessions there will still most likely be a gap between what the psych charges and what medicare will cover. So still make sure you hunt down a relatively cheap one. I ended up going to a psychiatrist instead of a psych once per week, medicare cover psychiatrist sessions without the need for the mental health care GP plan and my gap payment was only about $60/session because the psychiatrist didn't have outrageous fees. Can't remember what the medicare rebate for it was. Another approach is to explain your financial situation to said psychiatrist/psychologist and most will reduce their fees for you.

Going to a psychiatrist doesn't mean you'll be given meds. I worked with mine to get me OFF my meds. Whether or not you take meds is completely your decision. Psychiatrists just have the ability to prescribe if necessary, it doesn't mean everyone that goes to one will be given a script. If you do decide to find one I'd suggest finding a younger one, in my experience the older psychiatrists not only charge more but they have serious attitude problems.

I love a lot about living in Sydney (grew up in country NSW and only moved here in 2007 so the novelty hasn't worn off yet) but the one thing that really annoys me is how some (read: most) Sydney drivers blatantly disobey road signs/rules and don't show any common courtesy. Morning commutes would be so much easier if people just thought of others! <end rant>

Sydney is home to some world class moral-gymnasts. Some guy almost hits you because he ran a red light ? he will get out of his car and start screaming at you for 'driving like an idiot' (paraphrased for politeness) and generally giving you crap for not obeying his version of the road rules.

You're right about the moral gymnasts (such a good term BTW, I'm going to steal it and claim it as my own). It's why the requirement of wherever I live has to be close to public transport. I'm going to see if I can hold off on buying a car until after I have a house and kids

Yeah it's pretty ridiculous. The worst thing I see lately is that red lights are now entirely optional. I don't mean "late orange"... I mean people stop at the red light, see that no cars are coming, and go through anyway... or even if there are cars coming, some squeeze through. I see it nearly daily. What. The. Fuck.

I'm on a scooter and get hit almost daily. Driving is like mental mindgames, constantly looking out for anything that could hit me. I mean, I'm glad I'm good at keeping myself safe, but fuck.

Speeding gets me. I'm going exactly the speed limit and some asshat overtakes me IN THE SAME LANE and almost swipes me. Thank god for the sweet justice I get when I catch up to them at the lights and get in front of them anyway.

Operations an information systems. Pretty close to native wildlife. It's like really shitty. Shitty enough so the lecturer agrees with me when I tell her "I don't know, I feel like this text and most of the other ones we have studied are mostly buzzwords". Don't ask me what it is about, I'm still not sure about it (something about finding information systems frameworks in a company and "the garbage model")

I received mine yesterday from /u/kasp! Enjoy it man, lots of fun to be a had with them. I ran raspBMC as a temp media server for a while and it was fantastic, had no trouble with high def and the IR receiver worked with my tv remote! :D

I came home and there were like ten parcels for me, a couple from my new job and one that was slightly smaller. Ran inside, threw the work ones aside and retrieved the Pi. Thanks again man, really appreciate it :)

Sounds like a good project, tonnes of support and tutorials around for that. I started working toward a MAME cabinet since I've now got an alternate media server set up. Slow going, but can't wait for it to be done.

Xmen was so good! I remember playing it as a kid on my Sega Megadrive, and constantly fucking up playing as Wolverine and killing myself. Did you play Bart vs The Mutants? Brutal game for a 4 year old.

So I was pretty excited to go eat Korean BBQ but then a friend suggested Reuben Hill...

Which was okay.. but defs not as good as the build up to Korean BBQ... the 'fucking great chicken' was alright, nothing to brag about to be honest. 4/10 would not go there again. Who the hell charges 8.10 for a friggin lycee, mint and coconut shake??? That wasn't even half full?? :/

Other than that, I got Messina Ice cream later on. The leaf leaf bang bang (mango and coconut sorbet with pandan jelly) gelato was really amazing! Especially the pandan.

Also, who won in the Melbourne cup? My family won a bit and we ate pie as a celebration, lol.

Korean BBQ is a freaking conspiracy. The aroma always manages to find a way to seep into your clothes, so on the way home the only thing you smell is the delicious memories of burning protein and it just makes you want to go again.

Haven't been there but have heard good things! Have you been to the house of pumpkin in strathfield? That place is insanely good, because it has no idea what it wants to be. Outdoor seating, whisky ads on the walls, jack-o-lanterns hanging everywhere. Great food!

Have you ever tried 'Jo Ja Ryong' in central Strathfield? It is arguably the best KBBQ in NSW, where you can fill up on $25, the people there are overwhelmingly nice and funny, especially that one tall guy who's name I forgot.
Once, when I went there for my birthday with my friends, we didn't bring a knife to cut the cake, so we asked that guy if he could find anything. He comes back after 5 minutes to present a tiny little knife (Here's the picture: http://imgur.com/PpQdMxw) - Just ignore my weird face- and our entire table lost it laughing. He actually sat down with us and had a chat and he got the people in the shop to come outside and sing 'Happy Birthday' to me.
I think I'm in love with that shop.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll go try it out after I officially finish uni this week, or go with my family this weekend. Is it in the shopping centre? i couldn't find a proper address for it. Or is it on the other side of the station?

If you walk down the 1 way street, away from the fountain, it should be opposite the entrance/exit of the plaza carpark. I think it's 30 Churchill avenue. I'm craving some chicken. Might pick up a kebab after my library session :)

Heyy! I've eaten there! The old guy that owns the place is hilarious! He kept on trying to feed my friend "boy so skinny, eat more!" while cooking the meat for us. Good times. It was really cramped tho. I would eat there again but I don't think it's big enough for like.. 10+ loud uni students.

Haha that's awesome, I love it there. We went in for dinner before my 21st this year and got greeted by this table of really drunk old korean guys! They were like "Hey! Hey white guys! Come drink with us!", so we did. My best mate ended up drinking shot for shot of soju with a guy who looked like he was older than time itself. That place rocks!

Soju is the best, I love it. Half a shot of soju and half of sprite makes it go down easy if you don't like drinking it straight, and it's super cheap when you're in a group! Definitely recommend. I've stumbled into Drunken Rice on occasion, which was fine, but has nothing on Kozy.

Guessing you're not too big of a drinker? Sweet alcohol is good in some respects, though I'm more of a beer and whisky drinker myself. Soju and lemonade is probably what I'd recommend for Kozy, it's sweet and tart, which plays off well with the intense food we tend to order.

Nah, I try not to drink too much cause I've seen my high school friends get off their faces and I'm kinda afraid of that. But defs gonna try a wider range of alcohol (+ soju) when it's my 21st next year :D

This...I have not heard this from an 18-21 year old for a LONG LONG time. Well done. Well, not on the afraid part, but trying not to drink too much.

Alcohol is bad for you (it actually is) - and before people judge me for sounding like some conservative crazy, think about it: it's a depressant chemical which has so many effects on the human brain. Why would you voluntarily put something bad in your body? Anyway rant over!

Ah right. Good luck with the saving Dude. I don't know if you've booked your ticket yet but my advice is do that as soon as you can.

It's real then and you HAVE to save. You'll be amazed at the amount of shit that'll happen that you are obliged to go to. If you have your ticket booked your excuse is ready and you can duck out of shit. Honestly I never got invited to more wedding/christenings/birthdays/holidays then when I was trying to save up to get out here.

Yeah I understand, I'm going through the same thing too. Come along to an open day at USYD or UNSW, and take a look around at some lectures. They'll give you a mini lecture on what the courses are about.
The main question you need to ask yourself is, what do you have an interest in? I, for example, have an interest in automotive mechanics, music and sport. Although I picked up Education, I'm looking at going for a 1 year deferment in order for me to find a full time job and diversify my experiences.

I have an interest in the IT industry but I'm not sure exactly what I want to do.
If it was up to me I'd just have around half a dozen cats, but alas, that's just volunteer work for anything like that.

Shout out to the school kids on the L90 singing and dancing their way across the Spit bridge who were so involved in their routine that an elderly lady had to settle with chillin up the back with the real dawgs

After posting yesterday about considering getting a 3DS for Pokemon X/Y, I decided to go for it! Yay! But then, I discovered that all the X/Ys are sold out all throughout Sydney! Boo!

I called Targets, Big Ws, EB Games and The Gamesmen and it was all no go. Most people were nice to me on the phone but I think I'll just order from The Gamesmen cus the guy there was the only one that told me when they expected more stock in. (The 11th)